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The World and Everything in It is WORLD Radio's daily half-hour audio news magazine, produced Monday-Friday. Play our programs and segments online below, or subscribe to the podcast by clicking the iTunes icon or RSS icon in the right column.

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Sept. 25, 2013

Lerner retires, the new military and religious freedom, Lila Rose

Today’s news and a report on the surprise retirement of
controversial former IRS employee Lois Lerner, the official at the heart of the
political targeting scandal, plus: part two of a three-part series on the clash
between religious freedom and military imperatives two years after repeal of
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” an interview with pro-life activist Lila Rose for our
New Christian Voices series, and more.

Program Segments

Wednesday news

Iran: President Obama and Iranian President Hasan Rouhani
both spoke up for improved relations and a resumption of stalled nuclear talks
at the U.N. The leaders' separate appearances at the United Nations General
Assembly came amid heightened speculation about a thaw in U.S.-Iranian
relations following the election of Rouhani, a more-moderate sounding cleric.
Obama and Rouhani traded their public messages, instead of a face-to-face
meeting, during addresses hours apart at the annual U.N. meetings.

Kenya attack: Kenya's president declared an end to the
four-day siege of a Nairobi mall by al-Qaida-linked terrorists. President Uhuru
Kenyatta said in a televised address to the nation that was delayed for hours
as gunbattles persisted at the upscale Westgate mall: "Kenya has stared
down evil and triumphed." Kenyatta says he can’t confirm it, but
“intelligence reports had suggested that a British woman and two or three
American citizens may have been involved in the attack.”

Religion: Christian students nationwide rose early this
morning for an annual event called See You at the Pole. Correspondent Steve
Coleman reports.

Business: Stocks were down early on Tuesday. By midday, they
had recovered their earlier losses, though trading remained volatile. Gains
were limited as investors remained cautious, still uncertain about what both
the Fed and Congress are going to do.

You can’t fire me. I retire!

A retirement party in Washington: It’s Lois Lerner who’s
getting the gold watch, as it were. She’s the official at the heart of the IRS
political targeting scandal, the targeting of the Tea Party. She’s the one who
took the Fifth instead of giving testimony in a congressional investigation
into her role in it. She’s been on paid administrative leave all summer — and
now that summer has turned to fall, Lois Lerner has turned to retirement. TW&E
correspondent Jim Henry reports.

Part 2: LGBT rights, religious freedom, and the new military

Two years after “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal: the second
of a three-part series on the clash between the military’s normalization of
open homosexuality in the armed services and the religious liberty of
servicemembers who object. A current investigation of a sergeant at Lackland
Air Force Base raises the question of whether the new military can tolerate
religious orthodoxy.